Amid what some are calling the most egregious and blatant allegations of cheating on standardized tests in the state and perhaps the nation, Flanner House Elementary Charter School will close next month and could face review by the Marion County prosecutor's office.

An investigation by the Indiana Department of Education suggests a systemic cheating operation at the traditionally poor-performing Indianapolis charter school that spanned two years and caused "an unexplainable extraordinary increase in the scores of Flanner House students on the Spring 2013 ISTEP+ assessment."

Now, nearly 200 minority and low-income students are left to find other school options weeks after the start of the academic year. On Thursday, outraged parents yelled at a school board member who rushed out of a meeting on the closure.

Community leaders expressed disappointment over the scandal but praised the accountability system for shutting down a school that they say failed its students.

The cheating allegations included students' incorrect answers erased and corrected; adult handwriting identified in student answers; and answers on multiple-choice sections "bubbled in perfectly," according to a written briefing on the investigation's findings.

The state report doesn't cite the parties who might be responsible for the alleged cheating. But Brandon Brown, director of charter schools for Mayor Greg Ballard, said it appeared to be a coordinated cheating effort. Ballard's office authorized the school's charter.

"When you look at the academic dishonesty that you saw at this school, this is unprecedented in the state of Indiana. It was systemic across the school," Brown said. "It was classrooms across the school. This was not just one classroom or one teacher. This was a two-year cheating scandal that we took 10 months to investigate, and the results were sobering."

The school principal, Latika Warthaw, did not respond to requests for comment.

The Marion County prosecutor's office said Thursday it was aware of the Flanner House situation but was waiting to receive a copy of the state's findings for review. A spokesman said it was too early to comment on whether or not criminal charges could be pursued.

But in other cheating cases across the country, including an infamous 2009 investigation of 44 Atlanta public schools and a more recent investigation in Philadelphia, school administrators have faced criminal charges over cheating on standardized tests.

One national expert said he was taken aback by the Flanner House allegations.

"I can't remember there being one (incident) this blatant," said Brad Thiessen, a professor at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, who has studied cheating in schools. "Atlanta was bigger, but they were being more sneaky."

In 2012, the Indianapolis mayor's office of education and innovation placed Flanner House Elementary on notice for poor academic performance, putting the school at risk of losing its charter. To address the school's "D" rating from the state and its dismal ISTEP scores, the office organized nearly 50 meetings with the school in the past two years.

Yet in one year, Flanner House's ISTEP passing rates rocketed up to 95 percent, one of the best scores in the state. It was a dramatic gain over the previous year's 54 percent of students passing both math and English. ISTEP is given to third to eighth grades across the state. Flanner House is a K-6 school.

The meteoric improvement led to a boost in its accountability grade from a D to an A and recognition of Flanner House as a "Four Star School."

But the mayor's office was immediately suspicious and began investigating the school two days after the 95 percent passage rate was publicly released in September 2013. The mayor's office also alerted the Indiana Department of Education over the surprisingly high scores.

Flanner House Elementary failed to follow several testing security procedures. In particular, testing integrity agreements submitted for 2012-13 were forged on versions of the next year's forms.

The education department this week stripped Flanner House of its Four Star School Award and invalidated the school's 2013 and 2014 ISTEP scores.

The Flanner House school's board of directors decided Wednesday night to close the 176-student public charter school at 2424 W Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St., effective Sept. 11. If that decision hadn't been made, the mayor's office was prepared to revoke the charter and effectively close the school.

The mayor's office will hold an upcoming "school fair" to help parents find a new school for their children.

"Cheating simply will not be tolerated in our schools," Mayor Ballard said in a prepared statement. "I support the decision by the Flanner House Elementary Charter School Board of Directors to close this school. Our team is now squarely focused on helping the students and families at Flanner House Elementary quickly find another high-quality public, private or charter school."

Flanner House Elementary was one of Indiana's first charter schools, authorized in 2002 under then-Mayor Bart Peterson's office. Its contract was renewed in 2009. It used to be connected to Flanner House Higher Learning Center, which was shut down in 2005 amid accusations of enrollment fraud when it received public funding for students for which it could not account.

Flanner House of Indianapolis, a United Way agency, is the school's landlord but is not affiliated with the charter school.

The school board's president, Patricia Roe, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Board member Marshawn Wolley hurriedly left Thursday's parents' meeting and would not answer reporters' questions.

One family said children were crying Thursday when they found out about the closure through media reports while still in school.

The school serves a particularly vulnerable population in the urban core: Nearly all the school's students last year came from low-income families, state data showed, with 96 percent receiving free or reduced-price lunches. Ninety-eight percent of students were black.

"These kids are challenged, but they're also resilient," said Mark Russell, director of education for the Indianapolis Urban League. "This is an adult issue, of adults failing children miserably and unethically."

Despite the disruption to students, he and other education leaders say the school's shuttering actually represents something good.

"From a broader standpoint," said David Harris, founder and CEO of The Mind Trust and former charter schools director under a previous mayor, "demonstrating that these schools are going to be held accountable sends the right signal and will cause the overall system of schools to be better. The worst thing we can do for kids is allow poor-performing schools to continue to stay open."

Teresa Meredith, president of Indiana State Teachers Association, said the allegations at Flanner House, though, are "definitely an indication of what can happen under high-stakes testing and the pressure that puts schools under...It's a sad reality in a few circumstances."

When asked if teachers should lose their licenses, she said that is something to be considered if they instigated the effort. If it was an administrative order, then teachers would be insubordinate if they didn't do it – but, she added, "I don't justify cheating."

Dozens of parents and community members crammed into the Flanner House cafeteria Thursday afternoon to hear about options after the school's closure.

Those inside described the mood as volatile, as parents tried to grasp the allegations and ask questions of school administrators.

Shelly Wood, whose son Lebronz is a fifth-grader at the school, said she was hurt by the news. "I just don't understand why they would change students' grades. What sense did that make?"

Some parents questioned the investigation's findings.

Jennifer Anderson said she wanted to see proof of the cheating and believes the school should stay open for her two children.

"No one asked us, they just shut down the school without giving us a vote," she said. "Get rid of the bad apples and keep it open. They are ruining a community."

The Mayor's Office of Education Innovation and Flanner House Elementary will hold another informational meeting with parents from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Friday at the school, officials said, with an enrollment fair being planned for next week to help reassign students to other public, private, parochial, and charter schools. A full-time staff member will work solely on helping families during the transition, the office said.